Deportation over justice: EU deal offers no safe reporting for undocumented victims of crime

On 10th December, the European Parliament and the EU Council reached an agreement on the revision of the Victims’ Rights Directive, the EU’s law setting minimum protection and redress standards for victims of crime.  

The leaked draft shows that EU lawmakers agreed on a text that fails to protect undocumented victims from detention and deportation should they report abuse or violence to police.

Louise Bonneau, Advocacy Officer at PICUM, said “Across Europe, undocumented people already face the impossible choice between enduring abuse or risking detention and deportation if they seek help. This agreement reinforces that fear by signaling that some victims are less worthy of protection, undermining equality before the law and the fundamental rights the EU claims to uphold.” 

The Directive requires that victims should not be ‘discouraged’ from reporting and that their rights under the Directive must not be obstructed, yet it leaves it entirely to member states to decide whether to introduce concrete safeguards, such as guarantees that no personal data of undocumented migrant victims would be shared between police and immigration enforcement officials (e.g. “firewalls”). In practice, this means there will be no EU-wide guarantee of safe reporting mechanisms.

The text clarifies that member states can issue special residence permits for undocumented victims, but they are not required to do so. Only access to secure and autonomous residence status can ensure that victims can report crimes and seek redress without fear.  

Suzanne Hoff, International Coordinator of La Strada International, said “For trafficked and exploited people, one of the biggest barriers is the lack of safe reporting mechanisms, which are generally absent in Europe. We had hoped that the revision of the Victim Rights Directive would remedy this gap in the EU anti-trafficking law, but this did not happen. If the EU is serious about fighting human trafficking and other serve forms of exploitation and abuse it should ensure that reporting abuse does not lead to detention or deportation: without this guarantee, many victims will remain too afraid to come forward”.  

NOTES TO THE EDITORS:

• The political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council will then have to be formally adopted by both institutions, before it is published in the Official Journal and enters into force.
• The European Commission had proposed a minimal safeguard preventing authorities from sharing victims’ residence-status data with migration authorities until completion of the first individual needs assessment. Although far from a full safe-reporting guarantee, it acknowledged the risks faced by undocumented victims. Member states rejected even this limited protection, repeating the missed opportunity seen last year in the Violence Against Women Directive.
• These gaps must also be understood in the broader context of EU migration policy. Proposals such as the “Return Regulation” would further expand enforcement powers that already deter undocumented people – especially women and girls exposed to gender-based violence – from seeking help. Without binding safe-reporting safeguards across EU law, the rights set out in the Directive will remain inaccessible to many of those who need them most.